Genius for robbery

Press, 23 July 1987, Page 24

Genius for robbery

“Malcolm," an Australian comedy about a young inventor who dreams up some ingenious devices to use in robberies, will begin tomorrow at the Savoy. Malcolm (Colin Friels), aged 30, is a man whose mechanical aptitude is highly developed, but through the efforts of an over-bearing mother, his emotional and social development stopped a long time ago. He is a boffin who works for the tramways as a maintenance man. He lives alone in his recently deceased mother’s house, watched over occasionally by the local milk bar proprietor, Mrs Tamarack.

His mechanical ability gets him into trouble when he produces a oneman tram. An ecstatic Malcolm drives his

“tram" around Melbourne streets at dawn — resulting in him getting the sack. The long-suffering Mrs Tamarack, fed up with extending credit to Malcolm, suggests that a boarder may be the answer to his enforced poverty.

The successful applicant, Frank (John Hargreaves), turns out to be a criminal complete with his blowsy girlfriend, Judith (Lindy Davies). The combination of Malcolm’s amazing inventions with Frank’s criminal mind results in a spate of unique but unsuccessful robberies. All this culminates in the heist of the decade — an automated bank job, and a get away that stretches Malcolm’s devices to the full.